Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies

Sunday afternoon, I wanted to bake something in celebration of the Titans come-back victory over the Ravens. They are 5-0!! I had seen these blondies recently on Good Things Catered and she had adapted them from Baking Blonde. These looked so scrumptious, I just had to try them. And of course, I had to make them a bit healthier so I wouldn’t feel so bad about eating them. My version is below, and you can find the originals by clicking on the links above.

These are truly AMAZING!! Oh my goodness is all I have to say! Rich, gooey, & chocolatey all at once. Bring on the milk, because these bad boys are super rich! Beware, you will want to eat the entire pan! You are going to want to make these over and over again! Yum!!

Peanut Butter Blondies
adapted a bit from BakingBlonde and Good Things Catered

Ingredients:
4 Tbsp light margarine, almost melted
2 Tbsp applesauce
1/2 c. reduced fat creamy peanut butter
1/2 c. packed brown sugar splenda (or 1 cup regular brown sugar)
1/4 cup egg substitute (or 1 egg)
1/8 c. skim milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 c. flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 c. chocolate chips (I used a bit more, about 3/4 cup semi-sweet chips)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line an 8×8 pan with foil and lightly grease.
2. In a small microwave safe mixing bowl melt the margarine for 20-30 seconds until melted.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes.
3. In bowl of stand mixer, add applesauce, peanut butter and margarine and mix until creamy and smooth, about 1 minute.
4. Add the brown sugar to the peanut butter mixture and stir until smooth, about 1 minute.
5. Add the egg substitute and stir to combine thoroughly.
6. Add milk and vanilla and stir to combine.
7. Add the flour, baking powder and salt to the peanut butter mixture and stir just to combine (will be quite thick).
8. Gently fold in chocolate chips
9. Place into prepared pan and use a greased spatula to evenly spread mixture in pan and level the top.
10. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until set in the middle.
11. Cool completely.